On Not Punishing Adulterers with Death
John Foxe's "De Non Plectendis Morte Adulteris" ("On Not Punishing Adulterers with Death") emerged in 1548 as a theological treatise challenging the prevailing legal and ecclesiastical consensus regarding capital punishment for adultery. Written during the tumultuous early years of the English Reformation, when questions of civil law, biblical interpretation, and Christian governance demanded fresh examination, Foxe's work addressed the intersection of scriptural authority and judicial practice in Protestant England.
Foxe constructs his argument through careful exegesis of both Old and New Testament passages, distinguishing between the ceremonial and judicial laws of ancient Israel and the moral principles binding on Christian societies. He contends that while adultery remains a grave sin requiring church discipline and civil penalty, the death sentence prescribed in Mosaic law belongs to the temporary judicial arrangements of theocratic Israel rather than permanent moral law. Drawing on patristic sources and Reformed theological principles, Foxe argues that Christ's merciful treatment of the adulterous woman and the church's calling to restoration rather than destruction should inform Christian magistrates. He advocates for severe but non-capital punishment, including imprisonment, public penance, and exclusion from communion, while maintaining that the civil authority retains legitimate power to punish sexual crimes.
This treatise demonstrates the sophisticated legal and theological reasoning that would later characterize Foxe's more famous martyrological work. It reveals the practical challenges facing Protestant reformers as they sought to establish distinctly Christian approaches to civil governance while respecting both scriptural authority and natural law. The work contributed to broader Reformation debates about the relationship between Old Testament law and Christian society.
Who should read this: Scholars of Reformation legal thought and early Protestant approaches to civil governance will find essential insights here, as will those studying the development of Foxe's theological method. Readers seeking devotional or pastoral guidance on marriage and sexuality should look elsewhere, as this remains a technical work of legal theology.